Bachelor's Programs
Professional Degrees
Non-Professional Degrees
Professional vs. Non-Professional Degrees
Why Professional Degrees may be critical for your future
Second Major and Minors
Combined Bachelor's and Master's degrees
Undergraduate Research
The mission of our undergraduate programs is to instill in students the knowledge and perspective appropriate both for a professional career and for the pursuit of advanced degrees, in fields that rely on key electrical engineering and systems principles and practices. Such principles and practices include rigorous quantitative reasoning and robust engineering design. This mission is accomplished by ensuring that students achieve both depth and breadth of knowledge in their studies and by maintaining a high degree of flexibility in the curriculum. Our programs also seek to provide a good preparation for life, including an ability to communicate in written and oral forms, and a desire to continue learning throughout life. In addition they aim to provide the opportunity and training for students to acquire the skills and attitudes to become leaders.
The Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering (ESE) offers four undergraduate degree programs: two professional degrees and two nonprofessional degrees. The two professional degrees are the Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) and the Bachelor of Science in Systems Science and Engineering (BSSSE). These two programs are fully accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). The two nonprofessional degrees are the Bachelor of Science in Applied Science (Electrical Engineering) and the Bachelor of Science in Applied Science (Systems Science and Engineering). All programs have flexible curricula as well as specific requirements, and students may elect programs of study tailored to individual interests and professional goals.
In the professional BSEE curriculum, there are required courses in electrical circuits, signals and systems, digital systems, and electromagnetic fields, along with laboratory and design courses which provide students with a common core of experience. Subsequently, one may orient the program toward breadth, so that many disciplines within the profession are spanned or toward a specialty more emphasis on depth in one or more disciplines. Areas of specialization include modern electronics, applied physics, telecommunications, and signal and image processing.
Students in the professional BSSSE degree program take required courses in engineering mathematics, signals and systems, operations research, numerical methods, and automatic control systems, along with laboratory and design courses. This program emphasizes the importance of real-world applications of systems theory, and accordingly students are required to take a concentration of courses in one of the traditional areas of engineering. There are numerous elective courses in control theory and systems, signal processing, optimization, robotics, probability and stochastic processes, and applied mathematics.
Students enrolled in any of the ESE undergraduate degree programs have a variety of opportunities to augment their educational experience at Washington University. Students may participate in the Premedical Engineering program, or in the Cooperative Education program. Some students pursue double majors, in which two sets of degree requirements, either within or outside the ESE department are satisfied concurrently. The Process Control Systems program is one such double-degree program, involving the degrees Bachelor of Science in Systems Science and Engineering (BSSSE) and Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering (BSChE). Finally, students may earn both an undergraduate and a graduate degree while maintaining undergraduate student status, through the School’s five-year BS-MS program.
Students who seek a broad undergraduate education in electrical engineering or systems science and engineering, but plan on careers outside of engineering, may pursue the nonprofessional degrees: Bachelor of Science in Applied Science (Electrical Engineering) and Bachelor of Science in Applied Science (Systems Science and Engineering). These programs of study are appropriate for students planning to enter a medical, law, or business school, and desire a more technical undergraduate experience than what otherwise may be available to them.
The ESE department also offers a variety of educational opportunities for students enrolled in other departments. These include the Second Major in Systems Science, which is open to students outside of the School of Engineering such as the College of Arts and Science, the Minor in Electrical Engineering, the Minor in Robotics, and the Minor in Manufacturing Engineering.
